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A stack of fluffy pancakes topped with blueberries, whipped ricotta, and salted honey butter.
Brown butter pancakes at Puritan & Co.
Puritan & Co.

10 Top-Notch Brunches Around Boston

Stacks of pancakes, endless dim sum, crispy fried chicken, and more

by Eater Staff Updated
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Brown butter pancakes at Puritan & Co.
| Puritan & Co.
by Eater Staff Updated

When done right, brunch is the weekend personified. It’s the luxury of personal time to linger over eggs Benedict, syrup-laden French toast, piping hot coffee, and boozy beverages. Boston readily embraces the weekend ritual with all-you-can-eat brunch buffets, baklava pancakes, and an endless parade of dim sum. Scroll below for a sampling of 10 excellent Boston-area brunch options.

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The Neighborhood Restaurant

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Classic breakfast options and huge portions abound at this aptly named neighborhood restaurant in Somerville’s Union Square. Eggs, French toast, home fries, pancakes, omelets, and more are all on the menu at the family-run restaurant that has been around since 1983. The Borges family’s Portuguese roots show up in some of the dishes. A must-have is the Cream of Wheat, which also comes as one of the appetizer choices with any breakfast selection. Venture onto other pages of the menu for huge, flavor-packed pancakes, French toast, and more.

25 Bow St, Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 623-9710
(617) 623-9710

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Puritan & Company

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When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston is involved in any sort of brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its Sunday brunch service this summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more.

1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 615-6195
(617) 615-6195

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Vincent's

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Vincent’s, run by the same team behind hip Jewish deli Mamaleh’s, does a Texas-style brunch on the weekends worth rolling out of bed for. The spread includes breakfast tacos served on housemade flour tortillas, saucy tortas, and puffy kolaches baked with sweet and savory fillings. Get there early if you’re eyeing a kolache, as those typically sell out before the day is done.

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave, Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 314-7297
(617) 314-7297
Three tacos, each in an individual brown cardboard serving vessel, are arranged on a large plate.
Breakfast tacos at Vincent’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

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Brookline Lunch

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The name is a bit of a misnomer; Brookline Lunch serves breakfast and brunch all day in Cambridge (on Brookline Street, to be fair; and sure, there’s lunch too). Dating all the way back to 1937, this old-timey spot has become especially popular in recent years for its pancakes, especially the baklava pancakes, which were originally meant to be a special but jumped to the regular menu. The rest of the breakfast menu is full of eggs: omelets, Benedicts, and such. Cash only.

9 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 354-2983
(617) 354-2983
A green ceramic bowl filled with veggies, pita wedges, poached eggs, and chickpeas.
The za’atar egg bowl at Brookline Lunch.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

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Winsor Dim Sum Café

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Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

10 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111
(617) 338-1688
(617) 338-1688

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Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

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Buckle in for an all-you-can-eat jazz brunch fest at Southern comfort food favorite Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen. Unlimited quantities of eggs, fried catfish, cheddar grits, and waffles await for $25.95 per person (for adults), $22.95 (for seniors), or $19.95 (for kids ages 6 to 12). It’s only available on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

604 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02118
(617) 536-1100
(617) 536-1100
A plate with a red buttermilk waffle slice, grits, green beans, eggs, and a cornbread muffin.
Sunday brunch at Darryl’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

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Publico Street Bistro & Garden

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Publico’s brunch is a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts: Go big and boozy with bags of doughnuts and alcohol-spiked breakfast frappes, or just relax over a tasty plate of hot chicken Benedicts blanketed in the restaurant’s special hot sauce hollandaise. There’s also year-round patio seating in the restaurant’s interior courtyard, outfitted with a retractable roof.

11 Dorchester St, Boston, MA 02127
(617) 622-5700
(617) 622-5700

Also featured in:

Lincoln Tavern & Restaurant

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With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, plus a shiny new award from Boston Magazine for best brunch in the city, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this formative meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant — are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas.

425 W Broadway, Boston, MA 02127
(617) 765-8636
(617) 765-8636
Pancakes covered in a pink syrup and topped with fruity pebbles cereal.
The famed fruity pebble pancakes.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Also featured in:

Brassica Kitchen + Cafe

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Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the white bean pupusas with chili crisp to the compulsory cheesy corn cachapa.

3710 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 477-4519
(617) 477-4519

Also featured in:

Via Cannuccia

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This cozy little Italian newcomer in Dorchester is already stealing hearts at dinnertime, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

1739 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA 02124
(617) 506-1877
(617) 506-1877

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The Neighborhood Restaurant

25 Bow St, Somerville, MA 02143

Classic breakfast options and huge portions abound at this aptly named neighborhood restaurant in Somerville’s Union Square. Eggs, French toast, home fries, pancakes, omelets, and more are all on the menu at the family-run restaurant that has been around since 1983. The Borges family’s Portuguese roots show up in some of the dishes. A must-have is the Cream of Wheat, which also comes as one of the appetizer choices with any breakfast selection. Venture onto other pages of the menu for huge, flavor-packed pancakes, French toast, and more.

25 Bow St, Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 623-9710
(617) 623-9710

Puritan & Company

1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston is involved in any sort of brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its Sunday brunch service this summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more.

1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 615-6195
(617) 615-6195

Vincent's

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave, Cambridge, MA 02141

Vincent’s, run by the same team behind hip Jewish deli Mamaleh’s, does a Texas-style brunch on the weekends worth rolling out of bed for. The spread includes breakfast tacos served on housemade flour tortillas, saucy tortas, and puffy kolaches baked with sweet and savory fillings. Get there early if you’re eyeing a kolache, as those typically sell out before the day is done.

233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave, Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 314-7297
(617) 314-7297
Three tacos, each in an individual brown cardboard serving vessel, are arranged on a large plate.
Breakfast tacos at Vincent’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brookline Lunch

9 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA 02139

The name is a bit of a misnomer; Brookline Lunch serves breakfast and brunch all day in Cambridge (on Brookline Street, to be fair; and sure, there’s lunch too). Dating all the way back to 1937, this old-timey spot has become especially popular in recent years for its pancakes, especially the baklava pancakes, which were originally meant to be a special but jumped to the regular menu. The rest of the breakfast menu is full of eggs: omelets, Benedicts, and such. Cash only.

9 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 354-2983
(617) 354-2983
A green ceramic bowl filled with veggies, pita wedges, poached eggs, and chickpeas.
The za’atar egg bowl at Brookline Lunch.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Winsor Dim Sum Café

10 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111

Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

10 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111
(617) 338-1688
(617) 338-1688

Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

604 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02118

Buckle in for an all-you-can-eat jazz brunch fest at Southern comfort food favorite Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen. Unlimited quantities of eggs, fried catfish, cheddar grits, and waffles await for $25.95 per person (for adults), $22.95 (for seniors), or $19.95 (for kids ages 6 to 12). It’s only available on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

604 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02118
(617) 536-1100
(617) 536-1100
A plate with a red buttermilk waffle slice, grits, green beans, eggs, and a cornbread muffin.
Sunday brunch at Darryl’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Publico Street Bistro & Garden

11 Dorchester St, Boston, MA 02127

Publico’s brunch is a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts: Go big and boozy with bags of doughnuts and alcohol-spiked breakfast frappes, or just relax over a tasty plate of hot chicken Benedicts blanketed in the restaurant’s special hot sauce hollandaise. There’s also year-round patio seating in the restaurant’s interior courtyard, outfitted with a retractable roof.

11 Dorchester St, Boston, MA 02127
(617) 622-5700
(617) 622-5700

Lincoln Tavern & Restaurant

425 W Broadway, Boston, MA 02127

With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, plus a shiny new award from Boston Magazine for best brunch in the city, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this formative meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant — are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas.

425 W Broadway, Boston, MA 02127
(617) 765-8636
(617) 765-8636
Pancakes covered in a pink syrup and topped with fruity pebbles cereal.
The famed fruity pebble pancakes.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brassica Kitchen + Cafe

3710 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the white bean pupusas with chili crisp to the compulsory cheesy corn cachapa.

3710 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 477-4519
(617) 477-4519

Via Cannuccia

1739 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA 02124

This cozy little Italian newcomer in Dorchester is already stealing hearts at dinnertime, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

1739 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA 02124
(617) 506-1877
(617) 506-1877

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